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Thursday, March 31, 2016

A CBP narcotics detection canine alerted officers to the discovery of nearly 52 pounds of meth within the vehicle rocker panels of a smuggling vehicle

TUCSON, Ariz. – Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a Mexican national on March 24 for attempting to smuggle almost 52 pounds of methamphetamine through the Dennis DeConcini crossing at the Port of Nogales.

Officers inspecting the vehicle of a 42-year-old woman found multiple packages of meth after a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted to the drugs hidden inside the vehicle’s rocker panels when she attempted to enter the U.S.

Officers seized the drugs and vehicle, and turned the subject – a legal permanent resident – over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

EL PASO, Texas -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers working at the El Paso port of entry made a 12.2 pound cocaine seizure Tuesday. A 34-year-old female U.S. citizen from Albuquerque was taken into custody. The estimated street value of the seized contraband is $390,400.

The cocaine seizure was made just before 9 a.m. when a 2004 Ford Taurus with a lone driver arrived at the Ysleta international crossing from Mexico. A CBP officer at the primary inspection station selected the vehicle for a secondary exam. CBP drug sniffing dog “Tiran” searched the car and alerted to the upper trunk area of the vehicle. CBP officers scanned the vehicle with the Z-portal x-ray system and spotted an anomaly in the area between the rear seat and trunk. CBP officers continued their exam and located a compartment behind the rear set. A total of five cocaine-filled bundles were removed from the compartment.

CBP officers arrested the driver, Francis Jaramillo, of Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement HSI special agents to face charges associated with the failed drug smuggling attempt.

While anti-terrorism is the primary mission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the inspection process at the ports of entry associated with this mission results in impressive numbers of enforcement actions in all categories.

TUCSON, Arizona – The U.S. Border Patrol on Tuesday reported finding a cross-border tunnel that originally had been discovered by Mexican authorities, who then provided information on it to U.S. immigration authorities so they could perform their own investigation.

Following up on the tip provided by Mexico, Border Patrol agents found the tunnel stretching approximately 10 meters (yards) into U.S. territory just east of the Morley pedestrian crossing point in Nogales, Arizona, which is known as the “drug tunnel capital.”

On Monday, in a cooperative action between the Border Patrol and Mexican authorities, the tunnel measuring 24.4 meters (about 80 feet) in length, all told, was found to be unfinished.

Since the first such illegal tunnel was found in 1990 in Douglas, Arizona, U.S. authorities have found more than 115 tunnels, 110 of them in the Nogales area, and have managed to seize more than 17,500 pounds of drugs that were being smuggled through them.

During the current fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, authorities in the Tucson sector have found or been tipped off to three tunnels.

U.S. authorities said in a statement that agents put their lives in danger when they enter the tunnels to investigate them.

Monday, March 28, 2016

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations (AMO) agents efforts in the Eastern Pacific Ocean lead to the arrest of four people and the disruption of more than 12,800 pounds of cocaine.

The task force coordinated an interdiction of the semi-submersible with a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in the area while the AMO crew maintained constant visual surveillance. Upon interdiction, the U.S. Coast Guard arrested four individuals operating the vessel. The semi-submersible became unstable and sank.

“This type of cooperation and teamwork produces these kinds of results where suspects are arrested and narcotics prevented from reaching U.S. shores,” said Director John Wassong at the National Air Security Operations Center - Corpus Christi. “Our crews will continue to take every opportunity to disrupt this type of transnational criminal activity.”

CBP Air and Marine Operations P-3s are an integral part of the successful counternarcotic missions operating in coordination with JIATF South. AMO crews patrol within a 42-million-square-mile area which includes more than 41 nations and the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and seaboard approaches to the United States.

In Fiscal Year 2015, AMO’s aircrews contributed to 198 seizure, disruption, or interdiction events in the transit zone, resulting in the interdiction of 213,000 pounds of cocaine.

Operation Martillo (Hammer) is a U.S., European, and Western Hemisphere effort targeting illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American isthmus. U.S. military participation is led by Joint Interagency Task Force South, a component of U.S. Southern Command.

The U.S. contribution to the multinational detection, monitoring and interdiction operation includes U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels, aircraft from U.S. federal law enforcement agencies, and military and law enforcement units from various nations working together to deny transnational criminal organizations the ability to exploit these transshipment routes for the movement of narcotics, precursor chemicals, bulk cash, and weapons along Central American shipping routes.

Overall coordination of counter-drug patrols and surveillance in the Eastern Pacific is done by a joint interagency task force headquartered in Key West, Fla. U.S. maritime law enforcement and the interdiction phase of operations in the region occur under the tactical control of the 11th Coast Guard District headquartered in Alameda, Calif.

“CBP has numerous layers of enforcement which are utilized on a daily basis,” said Port Director Gregory Alvarez, Laredo Port of Entry. “The officers’ experience, training and knowledge of CBP technology played a role in the discovery of this hard narcotic.”

The seizure occurred on Wednesday, Mar. 23, when a CBP officer referred a 1995 International tractor, driven by a 32-year-old male Mexican citizen from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas for a non-intrusive inspection. A canine and non-intrusive inspection by CBP officers resulted in the discovery of 15 packages allegedly containing 41 pounds of cocaine. The cocaine carries an estimated street value of $318,920.

CBP officers seized the narcotics and tractor. The case was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) special agents for further investigation.

LAREDO, Texas – Border Patrol agents from the Laredo Sector rescued a teenager, United States Citizen, who was found in distress after playing in a ravine near the U.S. riverbanks.

Border Patrol agents rescue student

On Tuesday, March 22, 2016 at approximately 4:30 p.m., agents assigned to the Laredo North Station all-terrain vehicle (ATV) unit were conducting their assigned duties near Father Charles M. McNaboe Park, when they heard cries for help coming from a deep ravine located behind Washington Middle School. The teenager and several other students had entered the ravine after school hours, but the student was left behind. The student was trapped in the ravine for approximately an hour before agents found him.

The student was unable to climb or find his way out of the ravine due to heavy brush and the steep incline. Border Patrol agents successfully rescued the student, and after being evaluated by Border Patrol Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), it was determined that no further medical attention was required.

The Washington Middle School staff and the United Independent School District (UISD) Police arrived at the scene and offered assistance. The student was released to his mother.

“I commend our agents for their vigilance and quick actions in rescuing this student without hesitation. It is exemplary of their commitment and many contributions to our community that often goes unnoticed,” said Laredo Sector Chief Mario Martinez.

PHOENIX (CBS5) -When you see flashing lights behind you, you pull over and stop.

But what happens when the person who approaches your car turns out to be an imposter?

Police released a composite sketch of a man who pretended to be a sheriff's deputy and used alternating red and blue dashboard lights to pull a woman over and then asked her for sexual favors to avoid going to jail.

The suspect is described as black and about 30 years old. He is 6'3" tall and weighs 180 pounds. He has black hair and is clean shaven. He was driving a four-door sedan with dark tinted windows displaying a white veteran's plate.

Marana police are looking for a man they say brandished a handgun while robbing the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 3900 W. Ina Road about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 26.

Sgt. Chris Warren, a spokesman for Marana police, issued the following news release:

"A note was given to an employee at the customer service desk demanding money. The suspect brandished a handgun that was concealed in his waistband. The suspect was given an undisclosed amount of money and fled the store in an unknown direction.

The suspect is described as Hispanic or Native American. He is in his early- to mid-20s. He is between 5'8” and 5'9” tall and weighs 160 pounds. He has black or brown hair.

There is a $1,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO. People can also call Silent Witness detectives toll free at 1-800-343-TIPS. Your call will remain anonymous.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

WASHINGTON – The United States believes it has killed the Islamic State’s second-in-command, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said at a press conference Friday morning, confirming earlier media reports.

“We are systematically eliminating ISIL’s Cabinet. Indeed, the U.S. military killed several key terrorists this week, including, we believe Haji Imam,” Carter said, using al-Qaduli’s nom de guerre and the U.S. government’s acronym for the jihadist outfit.

He added that the terrorist suspect had served as IS’s finance minister and was responsible for its external affairs.

Asked about the significance of killing al-Qaduli, Carter said “as you know leaders can be replaced. These leaders have been around for a long time – they are senior and experienced and eliminating them is an important objective and result.”

The attack was carried out Thursday by U.S. special forces in Syria, CNN reported earlier, saying the United States had been tracking the IS leader’s movements for some time.

But neither Carter nor Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided further details of the operation.

Al-Qaduli was one of four “key” IS leaders identified by the United States, which in May 2015 had offered an award of up to $7 million for information leading to his capture or death.

The State Department described him then as “a senior ISIL official who rejoined ISIL following his release from prison in early 2012. He traveled to Syria where he has worked with an ISIL network.”

Al-Qaduli originally joined Al Qaeda in Iraq, a precursor of IS, in 2004 and served as AQI leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s deputy and as AQI emir of Mosul, Iraq, according to the State Department.

The U.S. Treasury Department named al-Qaduli as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in May 2014, it added.

The announcement of al-Qaduli’s death comes 11 days after the United States confirmed that senior IS commander Abu Omar al-Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, had died in a U.S. airstrike in Syria 10 days earlier.

WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz accused Donald Trump, the GOP frontrunner, of being behind a tabloid news article that alleges he has been unfaithful to his wife.

“Let me be clear. This National Enquirer story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear and it has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen,” the visibly angry Texas senator said Friday after a campaign event in Wisconsin, referring to the article published in the American supermarket tabloid National Enquirer.

The tabloid story said Cruz had five secret lovers, citing a former Trump adviser who remains close to the real-estate mogul, Roger Stone.

“These stories have been swirling around Ted for some time. I believe where there is smoke there is fire. I have to believe this will hurt him with his evangelical Christian supporters,” Stone is quoted as saying.

The alleged mistresses are not named, but blurred images of them appear with black bars across the eyes. Two of the women identified based on the photos have denied the report, according to U.S. media.

Cruz said the Stone quote was proof that Trump and his team had orchestrated the report, saying the ex-adviser to the business magnate had engaged in “50 years of dirty tricks.”

Trump, for his part, issued a statement saying he had not read the Enquirer story and had “absolutely nothing to do with” it.

“Cruz’s problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz.”

The latest controversy marks an escalation in personal attacks between the two candidates.

Trump accused Cruz earlier this week of being behind a Facebook advertisement that shows the business magnate’s wife posing nude for a magazine shoot, tweeting “be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!”

Cruz hit back, saying his campaign was not behind the ad and that Trump was “more of a coward than I thought” if he tried to attack his wife, Heidi.

Cruz also was angry at Trump for retweeting an unflattering image of his wife alongside a glamour photo of Melania Trump, telling reporters in Wisconsin on Thursday that his opponent was a “sniveling coward” and warning him to “leave Heidi the hell alone.”

Trump leads the GOP race with 739 delegates to Cruz’s 465, but he still faces a tough battle ahead to win the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination.

The Republican establishment has started to close ranks around Cruz in hopes he can prevent the controversial Trump from capturing the delegates required to win the nomination outright and avoid a brokered Republican National Convention in July.

MEXICO CITY – Two people were gunned down at a nightclub in Acapulco and the mutilated bodies of two men were found on the city’s outskirts as the wave of violence continued in this beach resort in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero.

A man and a woman were killed during the attack at Acapulco’s Majesty night spot this Thursday, just a short distance from the heavily policed Avenida Costera thoroughfare, local media said.

The victims were a waiter and a dancer, whose names have not been revealed.

Meanwhile two men and two women, between workers at the club and customers, were wounded in the nightclub shooting and were taken in critical condition to various hospitals in the area.

According to a Federal Police report, the assailants were two young men who entered the establishment bearing arms and opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd, then left without being caught.

The street where the club is located and which has about 10 night spots, bars and restaurants, has been the scene of several attacks by gunmen in recent months.

Then as dawn approached Friday morning, the bodies of two men were found on the outskirts of the city, one of them decapitated and the other with his arms cut off and left a short distance away.

The head of the first victim was found some 3 kilometers (2 miles) away, along with a threatening message, the press reported.

So far this year in Acapulco, 221 people have been murdered, presumably the work of organized crime, according to an article in the daily El Sur.

Though Acapulco is one of the busiest Mexican resorts during Holy Week, the crowds of tourists have not been sufficient to halt the scourge of violence in this Pacific Coast municipality, which is in stark contrast to the image publicized by the authorities.

According to the Guerrero Tourism Secretariat, the hotel occupancy rate this Friday reached some 90 percent in Acapulco, where the homicide rate stands at 104 for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Acapulco has become, according to a recent study by the NGO Citizen’s Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, the third most violent city in the world.

Federal Police Commissioner Enrique Galindo said this Friday that during the Holy Week vacations, the tourist destinations in the country are guarded by more than 8,000 officers.

The commissioner said the close watch being kept by Federal Police on Acapulco has been boosted by an additional 1,400 men in uniform.

WASHINGTON – Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Tuesday that there is – at present – no evidence of “specific, credible” terrorist threats similar to the recent terrorist attacks in Belgium which left at least 34 people dead and more than 200 wounded.

“At present, we have no specific, credible intelligence of any plot to conduct similar attacks here in the United States,” the U.S. security chief said in a communique.

“That said, we remain very focused on the threat posed by lone terrorist actors who may lack direct connection to a foreign terrorist organization; we are concerned that such radicalized individuals or small groups could carry out an attack in the Homeland with little warning,” he added.

Johnson said that Washington remains committed to identifying and disrupting the plans of foreign terrorists who could travel to or from the United States.

The DHS chief said that his department, along with other law enforcement and intelligence authorities, is undertaking a series of actions to “monitor events in Brussels, work with the authorities there” and continue to increase U.S. security.

Johnson said that the United States has increased the exchange of information with Belgian and French authorities since the attacks last November in Paris, and it has procedures to “identify and prevent” suspicious individuals from traveling to the United States from Belgium.

In addition, among other things the Transportation Safety Administration has strengthened security at airports in the largest U.S. cities as a precaution.

As President Barack Obama did earlier on Tuesday, Johnson expressed his solidarity with the Belgian people and condemned the terrorist attacks.

The secretary also offered U.S. support to Belgian authorities to do everything possible to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks, for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

The Galapagos Islands are located about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) west of the coast of continental Ecuador and were declared a World Natural Heritage Site in 1978.

Some 95 percent of the territory’s 8,000 sq. kilometers (a little over 3,000 sq. miles) constitutes a protected area that is home to more than 50 species of animals and birds found nowhere else on the planet.

The islands were made famous by 19th-century British naturalist Charles Darwin, whose observations of life on the islands contributed greatly to his theory of the evolution of species.

MEXICO CITY – A woman has been taken into custody as a suspect in the deaths of her three young daughters, who were found murdered at their home in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, state prosecutors said.

The bodies of the girls, ages three, five and seven, were found Monday afternoon in the city of Morelia’s La Colina neighborhood and taken to a local coroner’s office for autopsies, the state Attorney General’s Office said.

The mother, identified as Martha Teresita Ch., has been detained for questioning based on the results of the initial investigation, the state AG’s office said, vowing to the solve the case and ensure that justice is served.

CUMBERLAND FURNACE, Tenn. (WZTV) -- The owner of a red shepherd mix was charged with leaving her Dog at Large after it allegedly killed or devoured 21 chickens and 11 ducks a resident raised to feed his family.

According to the report from Montgomery County Animal Control, the attacks took place over a month until the owner of the livestock called MCAC. The report states the livestock was valued around $400 and was able to finally lure it into capture by using the rest of a chicken the dog had killed.

Sherry Houck admitted to owning the shepherd and was instructed to get her pet up to date with rabies vaccinations and cited for having a "dog at large." Houck told investigators she would speak with the owner of the livestock and offer apologies.

BEIJING – Eight construction workers in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, who protested over not having received their wages, have been sentenced to between six and eight months of prison in a trial that was conducted on the street.

The official Beijing News on its webpage Friday published photos of the accused, accompanied by armed policemen on the street during the trial on Wednesday in the province’s Langzhong city.

The workers were tried for having blocked, along with hundreds of others, entry and exit of tourists in the nearby Nan Jin Guan tourist locality in August 2015, to protest against non-payment of wages.

The official media reports that the workers were “instigated” by two of the sentenced workers, surnamed Zhang and Qi, to pressurize the authorities into paying their wages.

Following a scuffle with the police, who reached the spot to disperse the protests, several workers were detained, including the eight workers sentenced Wednesday for jeopardizing public affairs, according to The Beijing News.

Experts are of the opinion that trial at a public space is reminiscent of Maoist times and a step backward with regards to human rights in China.

LIMA – A 9-year-old boy was killed and four other children were wounded when a grenade exploded near Teoria, an Indian community in the jungles of central Peru, the Armed Forces Joint Command said Wednesday.

The grenade went off on Tuesday “under circumstances that are still being investigated” by the Armed Forces Joint Command, which has a counterinsurgency base in the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro Rivers, or VRAEM.

Two of the children wounded by the grenade are listed in guarded condition with multiple wounds and broken legs, RPP Noticias reported.

VRAEM Special Command personnel provided medical assistance to the children wounded in the blast and later airlifted them to Lima, the joint command said in a statement.

The dead boy was identified as Abel Valderrama, RPP Noticias said.

The boy’s father told RPP Noticias that soldiers from the counterinsurgency base in the VRAEM staged live-fire exercises for several hours on Tuesday around Teoria and blamed the armed forces for his son’s death.

The father of Wilfredo Santos, a boy wounded in the explosion, told the radio network that his son had wounds on his head, face, hands and legs.

The man said he requested the boy’s transfer to a Lima hospital so specialists could treat him.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

A big smile in my countryRides on the face of a mullahCherished in the westBut when you translate it into a portraitYou see this photoYou may not believe this, but be certainWhen this smile is translated in to a numberYou see 2300It is the number of those hangedSince the presidency of that mullah

Iran is the world’s biggest prison for women journalists, the international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday.

"Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reiterates its concern about the conditions in which journalists are being detained in Iran, especially Afarine Chitsaz of the daily newspaper Iran, a young woman arrested at the same time as three other journalists on 2 November," the group said in a statement.

In addition to Chitsaz, four other women journalists – Rihaneh Tabatabai, Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht, Narges Mohammadi and Atena Ferghdani – are serving jail terms ranging from one to twelve years and some are in poor health, RSF said.

With a total of 36 journalists and citizen-journalists currently detained, Iran is still one of the world’s five biggest prisons for media personnel and is ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

NCRI - A high-ranking mullah in Iran's regime has called for stronger measures to further restrict women in Iran in choosing their type of clothing, the Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has reported on its website.

Mullah Naser Makarem Shirazi blamed the government for failing to implement the mandatory dress code and called for formation of a ministry in this regard.

He said: “Patrols promoting virtue and prohibiting vice must be established in society. There should be no surprise if we establish a ministry for this purpose.” (State-run Howza news website, March 13, 2016)

He is the second so-called religious authority within the regime who has called for the formation of such a ministry. The 89-year-old Makarem Shirazi had previously opposed women’s presence in stadiums and the lifting of gender segregation in universities.

A law entitled “Supporting those promoting virtue and prohibiting vice” was adopted in October 2013 and led to a wave of acid attacks against women under the pretext of mal veiling.

Mullah Naser Makarem Shirazi

In September 2010 Makarem Shirazi was quoted by the Iranian regime’s state news agency IRNA as saying, "The Holocaust is nothing but superstition, but Zionists say that people of the world should be forced to accept this."

"Americans and Westerners are affected by newly appeared superstitions such as the Holocaust," he said on September 4, 2010, according to the state-run ISNA news agency.

"The truth about the Holocaust is not clear, and when the researchers want to examine whether it is true or the Jews have created it to pose as victims, they jail the researchers," he added.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

MOSCOW – A second batch of Russian fighter jets departed on Wednesday from Syria’s Hmeimim airbase to permanent deployment bases in Russia, as part of the withdrawal from the Arabic country ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

“Another group of Russian aircraft took off from the airbase in Hmeimim heading to places of permanent deployment on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the military said in a statement, according to local media outlets.

The withdrawal of Russian military personnel, which began on Monday, is being completed in batches, with the warplanes returning separately to their home bases.

“I think that the tasks of Defense Ministry have been fulfilled. That is why I ordered our military group to begin withdrawing from Syria starting tomorrow,” Putin said on Monday during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as quoted by state-run news agency TASS.

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin has discussed and coordinated the decision to withdraw Russian forces with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.